


The Bee

by woodpusher



Category: Bee Movie (2007), The Fly (1986), The Fly II (1989)
Genre: Feminist Themes, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-14
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2020-05-29 13:35:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19401379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/woodpusher/pseuds/woodpusher
Summary: Maybe it's not that mature.  I remember thinking about this when the movie came out.  I suppose someone has done something similar, but I couldn't find it, not on this site anyway.Wow, I am surprised and flattered that anyone would subscribe to this.  Apparently it's not possible to know who subscribed, but thank you.I'm anticipating at least one more version.  Comments (even negative) are welcome!





	1. The Bee

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sineala](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sineala/gifts), [Mary3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mary3/gifts).



After the events of "Bee Movie," Barry B. Benson goes to pollinate a potted flower on George's patio. It just so happens that George is fertilizing the garden with his pet rabbit's dung and watering it besides.

"Barry?" asks George.

Barry does his best to ignore George.

"Barry B.Benson, is that you?"

Barry still ignores George.

"Barry, they told you to not talk to humans. That law doesn't actually exist."

"What?"

"Aha! It is you."

"I don't believe we've met."

"You obviously don't remember. We were friends, and still are if you want. Barry, you're not a real bee."

"Say what?"

"You're not a real bee. You can talk."

"I learned to talk the way you did. Mama, Dada, honey. I picked it up."

"Right, but not as a bee."

"Say what?"

"That movie you were in....it started out...as a horror film."

"Say what?"

"There was this mad scientist. Her name was Dr, Martine Delambre[1][2]. She was the niece of some other mad scientist who accidentally crossbred himself with a fly. She had two cousins and a cousin once removed who did the same."

"Huh?"

"Asexually, of course."

"What?"

"It was some sort of teleportation device. A fly got stuck in the ointment, or rather the teleporter. After the teleportation he was a man but had the facial features of a fly, and the fly had the facial features of a man."

"Continue."

"Well, this mad scientist was going to make a movie of her exploits. Her idea was to recruit a bunch of out of work actors. She thought that no one would miss them if anything went wrong. Instead of flies, though, she used bees."

"Oh come on now."

"Barry, let me tell you something. Among real bees, it's only the girl bees that go out and spread pollen. The boy bees - for the most part, all they do is have sex with the queen."

"No one said anything about that job!"

"Bees are in Order Hymenoptera. The usual rendered meaning is that hymen is related to the Greek word for 'membrane' and 'ptera' is Greek for 'wings.' Bees have thin, wispy, nearly transparent wings - a membrane, yes. However, Hymen was also the Greek god of marriage. The bees have two pairs of wings, but they link together as one pair.[3] Yet another meaning is 'mating on the wing.'[4]

"Mating on the wing?"

"Yes. The boy bees mate with the queen in mid-air. They have just one boner, but it is a doozy. It ends up ripping up their insides. Then they die."

"Wow, except for the dying part, that sounds like fun."

"Back in the 1970's, Dr. Susan Harris [5] tried hybridizing human women with bees. The women got complex eyes - I think they got stingers too. The guys didn't survive. Ultimately the girls didn't survive either, or so we think. On the other hand, Martine Delambre worked there as an undergraduate intern."

"About a decade later, she got her Ph.D. and went to work for Anton Bartok, who financed two more teleportation projects with similarly disastrous results." 

"What else do you know about bees?" 

"When winter comes, the real girl bees kick the celibate males out of the hive. [6] It's what they do."

"Huh?"

"In the winter, there's not enough food to go around. The boy bees eat more than the girl bees and don't do nearly as much work. They might huddle together to keep the hive warm, or flap their wings to cool it off, but that's about it."

"Those distant cousins of yours - watch out. They're not actually interested in you - for the most part they're infertile. Some might lay unfertilized eggs."

If it's getting cool outside and they want to go out with you, they're actually kicking you out of the hive. Don't let them cuddle with you - they might be trying to chew your wings off.[7]

"Aren't the boy bees bigger than the girl bees?"

"Yes, but by this time the girl bees won't have prepared you any meals for a while. You'll be weak from hunger. Also in a real hive, the girls outnumber the boys 10-1, maybe 100-1."

"I see."

"Anyway, the queen didn't want to have sex with you. She didn't want any of Dr. Delambre's hybridized boy bees. I'm not sure that any of you hybrids are even capable of having sex with the queen."

"Say what?"

"Barry, real boy bees don't have stingers. Dr. Delambre crossed you with a girl bee - a worker bee. Not that there's anything wrong with that."

"What are you talking about?? There's plenty wrong with it!!"

"I'll say - the actors with human bodies and bee facial features couldn't take direction at all. The movie was a disaster."

"That's not what I thought was wrong with the idea."

"The good news for you, Barry, is that just because you sting someone doesn't mean you'll die. If you're very careful about extracting your stinger, you'll be able to fly away without injury."[8]

"Eventually, Dr. Delambre turned the project into a kids' movie. It was the only way she could salvage her investment. She built that hive with the schools and the job board. She drugged you all up with the bee smoker. She brought a few back to consciousness, making them teachers, leaders, and parents, and gave each of them a backstory. Queens aren't elected, Barry - newly hatched potential queens fight each other, and the winner gets to be the new queen." 

"What happened to the actors with bee facial features?"

"I assume Dr. Delambre still has them. I think her lab and movie studio is near Peckham College out in California,, right down the road from Pasadena."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1] The Fly (1958) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051622  
> [2] The Fly (1986) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091064  
> [3] http://oldintranet.puhinui.school.nz/Topics/Insects/AboutInsects/families.html  
> [4] https://www.royensoc.co.uk/entomology/orders/ants-bees-and-wasps  
> [5] Invasion of the Bee Girls (1973) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070222  
> [6] Letters from the Hive books.google.com/books?id=vCqoog8WH3gC (especially p. 108)  
> If the link doesn't work, see reference 7.  
> [7] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWSBfbAixo0  
> [8] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTVsqc2CCGo


	2. Apiary Pictures

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was trying to figure out where the most logical place where Dr. Delambre would be. The family lab was in Montreal. Peckham College and much of the movie industry is in California. The main events of Bee Movie were in New York...why set up a hive 2800 miles or even 400 miles away from your lab? So maybe the lab should be near the hive.

"Vanessa?"

"Yes?"

"It's Barry. We have something to discuss."

"Oh?" 

"Despite the deep voice, I'm not really a boy bee. The only sex organ I have is my stinger, which is actually for infertile girl bees. I could sting you, and if we're really careful, I could extract the stinger without killing myself. But, I think it wouldn't be much fun for you, especially the second time around." 

"I see." 

"Apparently though, I used to be a human. At least part of me was. Then some mad scientist crossed me with an infertile girl bee." 

"Go on."

"We need to go...to California. That's where her lab and movie studio are. If we're lucky, my human half is still there and has the head of a bee and not much in the way of brains. Bees' lives are fairly short, and I don't know how much time I have left."

"Yes, we need to go."


	3. Background

It has come to my attention that there were two sequels to The Fly (1958):  
Return of the Fly (1959): [ROTF] and  
Curse of the Fly (1965) [COTF].

The events of Return of the Fly occur 15 years after The Fly.  
Curse of the Fly occurred after Return of the Fly.

The Fly specifically mentions supersonic flight (1947) and the British Air Ministry (reorganized 1964).  
The Fly: earliest possible date 1947, latest possible 1964.  
Return of the Fly: earliest possible date 1962, latest possible 1979.

There is this quotation in The Fly:  
"Fifty years ago, if my father were told he could sit in Montreal and watch a World Series in New York as it happened, he'd say it was impossible."

The earliest World Series was 1903, and the earliest appearance of a New York team (the Giants) was 1905. The Giants also appeared 1911-13. New York/Brooklyn teams frequently appeared 1916-24. However the first televised World Series was not until 1947. The reason may well have been economic rather than technological - there weren't enough sets available until then.

Unfortunately there is also this quotation in Return of the Fly:  
"Fifty years ago, stupid people said man was not meant to fly.  
[1] points to 1908 as the year that showed air travel was here to stay, but you'd have to be an absolute moron to think that air travel would go away once World War I started.  
(Latest date: 1963, putting The Fly back to 1948)

The only temporal clue I could find in the script of Curse of the Fly was a reference to a 1963 blue Chevrolet. 

So let's say the 50's are both approximate to one significant digit. The earliest date would be 1948 (45 years after the first World Series), and 1963 for Return of the Fly. (55 years after airline travel went public, 49 years after the start of World War I). Curse of the Fly would be after 1963.  


Television is also mentioned - which dates to the 1920's although they were not widely available until the 1950's.

Important characters in The Fly:  
Andre Delambre (played by David Hedison, born 1927)  
Helene Delambre (played by Patricia Owens, born 1925) - Andre's wife  
Philippe Delambre (played by Charles Herbert, born 1948) - their son  
Francois Delambre (played by Vincent Price, born 1911) - Andre's brother

Important characters in Return of The Fly:  
Philippe Delambre (played by Brett Halsey, born 1933)  
Francois Delambre (played by Vincent Price, born 1911) - Philippe's uncle  
Obviously Francois aged well.

Important characters in Curse of The Fly:  
Henri Delambre (played by Brian Donlevy, born 1901)  
Martin Delambre (played by George Baker, born 1931) - Henri's son  
Albert Delambre (played by Michael Graham, birthdate not listed in IMDB) - Henri's son  
Judith Delambre (played by Mary Manson, born 1931) - Martin's 1st wife  
Patricia (Stanley) Delambre (played by Carole Gray, born 1938) - Martin's 2nd wife

So Philippe is around 10-11 (born ca. 1938) for the events of The Fly, and 25-26 for the events of Return of The Fly. 

How does Henri fit in?  
a. One theory is that he is Philippe, renamed.

b. Philippe's brother - not living with his parents at the time of The Fly. He has reached the age of majority. Since Andre is dead and his mother may have committed murder, the script asks about custody of Philippe. If Henri were under 18, the question of Henri's custody would have come up as well. In the short story by George Langelaan, the son of Andre and Helene is named Henri (not Philippe), and he is 6 years old at the time of the story. In terms of the first two movies, it matters little whether Philippe is 6 then 21 or 11 then 26. An older Philippe makes it more believable that Philippe has an older brother Henri. There is also this quotation from Curse of the Fly: 

"Martin and his father are affected by cold, and also at times by a premature and very rapid ageing. They have to have regular injections of a special serum. The other brother, Albert, is quite normal."

The actor playing Henri was 64, and the one playing Martin was 34.  


It was also shown in the Fly II (1989), that a man-fly hybrid can mature incredibly quickly. 

Since Albert is quite normal, he must have been born at least 20 years prior to COTF, and Henri's (and Martin's) genes were not altered until after Albert's birth.  
The problem with too early a birth for Andre and Helene - they too would have found the idea of a live televised World Series impossible in their youth. The problem with too late a birth - COTF features a 1963 Blue Chevrolet, according to the script. Would a police officer know a 1963 Blue Chevrolet, as late as say, 1978? 

Hmm....let's say the events of COTF occurred ca. 1970, Martin and Albert were born ca. 1950, Henri was born ca. 1930; Helene and Andre were born ca. 1910. The first radio broadcasts were ca. 1920 - perhaps Helene and Andre would not have found the idea of television so strange, especially since it too was tested experimentally a few years later. Henri and Martin could have acquired fly genes any time after 1948, however since Albert is normal, rapid aging doesn't make the problem of constructing the chronology any easier.

Another possibility is that Albert is adopted (perhaps Martin is too). Albert and Martin were born ca. 1944. Their mother (born ca. 1924 or earlier) married Henri, then Henri adopted the two boys. Martin partook in another experiment causing his genes to be altered while Albert did not. No mention is made of Albert's and Martin's mother in COTF.

I'm going to say that Martine was an undergraduate intern at Brandt Research in Peckham, California in 1973 (Invasion of the Bee Girls), born about 1955. It's not clear if she has any bee genes. I'm going to say that she doesn't have any fly genes - the easiest path there is that she's the daughter of Francois. Let's see..she'd get her Ph.D. maybe 1983 or so? It would be Just in time to go to work for Bartok Industries, the financier of the Brundles in The Fly (1986) and The Fly II (1989). 

She'd be about 52 at the time of Bee Movie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1] https://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/1908-the-year-the-airplane-went-public-8791602/


	4. Peckham 1973

My name is Martine Delambre, and I'm studying entomology at Peckham College [1]. I got this amazing internship with the Brandt Laboratory. It's great money and an opportunity to learn.

Among the staff are:  
Dr. Susan Harris...entomology  
Dr. John Grubowsky...bacteriology  
Dr. Aldo Ferrara...diagnostics  
Dr. Henry Murger...reproductive biology  
Dr. Stan Williams...genetics  
Dr. Herb Kline...strategic alternatives  
Dr. Lyons..I'm not sure what he does  
Julie Zorn...I'm not sure if she's a librarian or a researcher. 

Wow, Professor Grubowsky died at a sleazy motel due to...sexual exhaustion? An investigator from the State Department came to the lab to ask questions. What gets me is that Julie had said she was the last person to see Professor Grubowsky alive...she even went to the motel with him. She must not have stayed the entire night, and only thought she had sexually exhausted him. I guess she had another appointment with someone else...did she exhaust him too? I don't know why, after Julie confessed, the investigator let her off the hook so easily. Was her confession a "joke?" If anyone else made a joke like that, he would have pressed charges. She must be sleeping with the investigator already. Someone else must have shown up at the motel later, and finished off Dr. Grubowsky. Anyway, a day or two later, Dr. Harris brought Mrs. Grubowsky to the lab during the night shift. She seemed distraught when she arrived, but almost overjoyed when she left.

Wow, seven more deaths in three days? They are dropping like flies. 

The army showed up, and there's a military quarantine. It's almost impossible to get out of town. 

Oh my goodness! Dr. Harris and several of the female employees were killed! The investigator is saying it was an industrial accident, but I think he trapped them down there. Some people heard a gunshot. I didn't think computers gave off deadly gases like that from one gunshot, but that's the official story. 

There were some other rumblings about Dr. Harris working on hybridizing humans and bees. She would give the woman a sedative, in a bee syringe no less, then they (Dr. Harris' assistants) would smear this cream on them - I'm guessing there must have been royal jelly in it. Then they'd put the woman in this chamber and bees would swarm around her. The cream would harden. They pelted her with radiation, then Dr. Harris' assistants would tear off the hardened cream. Dr. Harris would then kiss the woman passionately - I don't know if that was symbolic or maybe there was something special in her beeswax-based lipstick. 

Mrs. Williams was strangled by her husband while she was seducing him? That seems hard to believe. If she was a bee girl, couldn't she be stinging him repeatedly? A queen bee has a smooth, not a barbed, stinger, so she can sting over and over with no problem. A queen doesn't have as much venom as a worker bee, but you figure that a human-bee hybrid has as much venom as hundreds of bees.

Wow, if only Dr. Harris had gotten to know my uncle, or either of my cousins. If only I had gotten to know her research.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1] Filming locations were Santa Clarita, Valencia, and Newhall, California. Peckham doesn't actually exist, but presumably it is a small town near there, in what was area code 805.
> 
> During the movie there is a military quarantine, and movement in and out of town is severely restricted. There is a college in Peckham - one of the victims of the bee girls is killed at the frat house.
> 
> [2] An area code map of the 1970's:  
> https://www.lincmad.com/map1970s.html
> 
> [3] http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.701.8654&rep=rep1&type=pdf
> 
> Gasp, it looks like someone actually got college credit for reviewing this movie. Um, Nate, I think you're reading too much into it.


	5. Wasp Woman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There were two versions - 1959 and 1995.  
> The only temporal reference in the 1959 version I could find was "Dr. Cyclops is on Channel 9." Dr. Cyclops was made in 1940, and obviously television was commercially available.

Wasp Woman -


End file.
